Jaw Jaw is an interactive magazine feature where we give the associates from the Eurasia Consortium the opportunity to interview outstanding business people and entrepreneurs from their part of the World.
The feature will explore what makes these highly successful and, often exceptionally creative, people tick.
The feature will examine their strategic approach to their businesses, the highs and lows in the development of their businesses, their drive their ambition and what they see as the next important developments in their respective industries.

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Vania Gorcheva   -   Country Manager,  BASF Bulgaria;   President of the Bulgarian Crop Protection Association, member of the European Crop Protection Association

Interviewer Lora Nacheva (East Europe Manager - Eurasia Bulgaria)

LN: Tell us a little bit about the business climate in Bulgaria, what changes have occurred over the last number of years and has Bulgaria's accession to the EU in 2007 made any other differences?

VG: Bulgaria is traditionally an agricultural country. After the country’s accession into the EU, dynamic changes occurred on all levels: legislative changes, intensification in the production of agricultural goods and a restructuring of the market players (farmers, trade companies and the industry itself, including the crop protection industry). Investments were made to create a modern Bulgarian agricultural sector and then help it to become competitive in the European market. The positive effect from Bulgaria’s accession to the EU is that business has benefited a lot. In the first year after accession (2007) the country’s GDP grew by 6.2% compared to 2006. Now Bulgaria is firmly on the map of countries where foreign business will seek to invest.

LN: What has been BASF's strategy in the east European markets and how successful has this been?

VG: Bulgarian agriculture was seriously affected in the years after the decay of the totalitarian regime, but great potential remained. BASF was one of the first multinational companies to recognize this potential and accordingly started a new investment policy at a very early stage, in 2005. Now, four years later, we have all the multinational players competing on the Bulgarian market. I believe by making an early investment BASF really secured first mover advantage in the country and is subsequently reaping the benefits of this. Currently, and in terms of country strategy, BASF’s greatest challenge is to help the Bulgarian agricultural sector make the transition towards innovation and technological advancement across a wide range of areas as well as the intensification of production to generate efficiencies and economies of scale in contrast to extensive less efficient production and the traditional use of low-quality generic ago products.

We look at the problems of the transition as challenges. BASF is here to invest and help Bulgarian farming become as competitive as West European agriculture.

LN: You joined BASF in (what year) - why did you chose this company, what attracted you to it?

VG: I joined BASF in 2000 with BASF’s acquisition of the American firm Cyanamid. Initially I was attracted by the possibility to work in a multinational company and the number of opportunities for professional development an international environment could offer. Now I know it was a good choice to join the world’s leading chemical company. I am proud with the company culture and the way I have been supported by BASF when taking important business decisions in a challenging environment. For example, we managed to reach 20% market share and to become a market leader in four years! What’s more, we are highly committed to expand our business while supporting the development of sustainable agriculture in Bulgaria.
 

LN: You seem to have progressed through the company quite quickly. What is the secret to your success?

VG: Doing my job with strong commitment and taking the challenges on the way.

LN: What is the corporate culture of BASF like and has it been difficult for a woman to succeed in the company?

VG: I strongly believe in BASF company values and principles – sustainable development through innovation, forming the best team in the industry, ensuring customer success and satisfaction. It wasn’t difficult to succeed in this company. I enjoyed each step of my professional development. I was given chance to grow and, to me, being a woman wasn’t an obstruction at all. When you are surrounded by professionals the key point to succeed is to be professional yourself.

LN: Ok tell us a little about your future strategy, where do you see yourself in 10 years time?

VG: I’ll keep enthusiasm and commitment. I am not alone. I have my colleagues, we have our customers and partners. We’ll continue working for a great cause: the production of more and safer food with care to the environment and people’s health.

In ten years - I see the Bulgarian market develop from a fast growing developing market to a more mature market. The business challenges then will be different. We will search for new developments with creativity so that we will manage to keep our success ongoing. I look forward to this!

LN: Thank you for the taking the time to answer our questions.

VG: You are most welcome.

 

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The first interview in the Jaw Jaw series took place in Beijing with Mr. Chuanming Lv head of China’s leading business magazine Contemporary Manager. Interviewer Stuart Kewley.

From the perspective of The Eurasia Consortium, what makes Contemporary Manager magazine unique is its ability to identify management theories and trends that are relevant to its target market before its competitors, giving it a vital competitive edge. We were impressed by its ability to secure a range of high profile contributors and also that it sees itself as much more than just a management magazine but rather a media platform that conveys new such theories and trends to its market via a range of mediums.

The Eurasia Consortium (TEC): Mr. Lv, it’s a great pleasure to have an opportunity to speak with you. Could you begin by giving us a brief introduction for our non-Chinese readers who may not be familiar with the magazine and then comment on Contemporary Manager’s development since its launch in 2000?

Chuanming Lv: Contemporary Manager was founded, because we felt, there was a lack of publications that catered specifically to what we describe as "adolescent" (meaning young entrepreneurial) CEOs of private enterprises. Right from the very beginning, we positioned our magazine as a commercial magazine that focuses on the needs of such CEOs and their growing enterprises. Because such enterprises are growing at a very quick rate, their owner’s management skills also need to improve at the same pace. Therefore, they have a great need for management knowledge. Our magazine can be a tool that can provide this management knowledge.

In our opinion, businesses go through four stages: the start-up period, growth, maturity and recession. Our main target audience are entrepreneurs whose businesses are going through this growth phase, this stage accounts for 60% of the magazine’s content. Another 20% is dedicated to re-growing established companies, and the rest is based on discussions about the multinationalisation or globalization of companies.

We also have two forums, one is in spring time that called " the enterprising China " forum, and the other, which takes place in the Autumn, this month actually, is called "the Growing China " forum. In the “enterprising China” forum, we launched the top 10 entrepreneurial leaders’ program and the top 10 cutting-edge entrepreneurs’ program. While In “the Growing China," forum we launched the top 100 enterprises list from non-state-owned and non-listed companies. There is pretty interesting actually. There is no set or specific criteria for selection to the top 100 enterprises list, but we try and shy away from the already famous Chinese enterprises and, instead, talent scout for lesser known enterprises. Just because these enterprises may be unknown, it doesn’t mean to say they aren’t good. Many of them are at the forefront of China's economic development and the development of Chinese enterprise. Therefore, enterprises of non-state-owned or non-listed enterprises, with annual sales of more than a RMB 1 billion have become our target. More than 1,700 enterprises attended our first selection. The average attending the selection now is about 3000 per year. We have a group of 10 people dedicated to selecting the companies that will go into the annual list. Mengniu topped our first list. After that, it attracted interest from three big institutional investors including Morgan Stanley, Dinghui and CDC. After that Baidu, Xiaofeiyang, ZJS express, Xiuzheng Pharmaceutical Group all made the list. Before our list, they were all non-listed companies, now they are the new star enterprises. I’m also pleased that many famous investment institutions such as Morgan Stanley, Carlyle, Softbank etc have noticed or list. Our list has become the bridge that connects investment institutions and new enterprises.

The forums are events where those entrepreneurs that we feature in the magazine can meet like minded individuals to exchange ideas and discuss the business trends that the magazine may cover. I would like to add they are not just for Chinese entrepreneurs but entrepreneurs from all over the World are most welcome. At the same time, and according to our readers’ needs, we have created a number of training programs, such as the one where we co-operate with Beijing University to organize Contemporary Manager’s CEO Training Course which has received very good feedback.

We have also branched into consulting, providing a consulting service for our customers. We believe that this is the magazine’s natural evolutional development, from just purely media, to media and forums where ideas can be exchanged and networking undertaken, to training and also consulting. Therefore, we have built up a media platform based on this kind of industry chain to help China enterprises’ growth. Our vision is to become the top media platform dedicated to the development of China enterprises.

TEC: Competition in the media industry is fierce, how do you cope with such competition?

Chuanming Lv: Although competition is fierce, it is actually relative. If you want to be successful in the market, you must identify your specific advantage. In my opinion, media products can be regarded as a special kind of product. Whenever you make your strategy, or determine your market position, you have to remember your product’s unique selling point. Even if the competition is intensive, with uniqueness as an advantage; you can still find a good market for our product. In 2000 Contemporary Manager was founded and, although we have experienced a lot of difficulties, we always keep moving forward and growing with enterprises we cater to. The core action we take is that we keep studying to improve our management skills. Our management skill sets have risen very fast in the past two years. We have formed a good management system and a good organizational culture. Although we are not the best, but we have achieved good results via our management style.

TEC: I have noticed that foreign business magazines have made inroads into the Chinese market, what is Contemporary Manager’s strategy to compete with these magazines?

Chuanming Lv: These foreign magazines are really excellent. Firstly, they have a solid reputation and even a global readership, they are very well established and this is very important. Secondly, because they have existed for many years; many of them have experienced competition in a variety of market conditions. Again this is important. Hence they are experienced, they have an established a clear brand image and market segmentation and importantly have developed a global readership. If we compare ourselves with them now, there is a big gap. Saying this and despite the fact that Contemporary Manager has only been around for eight years, I believe we are slowly reducing the gap. China is still a big market, as we have a population of 1.3 billion. According to a Goldman Sach’s report, the Chinese economy will become the world's largest and China’s financial and economic media will certainly grow as the market and economic capacity increases. It may even become the world's most influential media, or at least one of the most influential. We want to be a leading force amongst China’s influential media.

TEC: A narrow customer base seems to have become an industry trend and this strategy seems to work well in the media industry, it seems that Contemporary Manager has developed a pretty narrow customer base.

Chuanming Lv: Sure we have a specific readership, but in my opinion media size is not that important, no matter how large your website, newspaper or magazine, as long as you have selected your target customer base and, if you are the best one in this target market, you will be the most influence in this area. The media’s power comes from its influence.
 

TEC: Most magazines place emphasis on advertising and distribution, but increasing it seems they are paying more attention to their marketing and branding promotion. What did Contemporary Manager do to create its brand and consolidate its market position?

Chuanming Lv: Branding for publications is very important. It is impossible to extend your brand and enlarge your territory if you do not maintain a high quality product and respond to the needs of your readers. Brand corresponds to positioning. When your products have a clear positioning, the brand strategy has to compliment this positioning and cannot shift. For example, our readers are, as I have noted, "adolescent” CEOs or entrepreneurs, so all the articles, activities or extended services we offer cater to such readers. At the same time, however, our product’s brand is constructed from many different attributes and we must ensure every detail is right. Contemporary Manager has made an enormous effort to do our brand-building over the past two years, including improving quality. We realized if we wanted to build a brand, we needed to create one and this had to be taken on board by senior management and then enshrined into the organization’s corporate culture. After which, it has to be translated or filtered down to the employees who then must be encouraged to adopt and really buy into the brand characteristics of the magazine.

TEC: You mentioned a pretty unique readership, could you tell us more about the kind of articles your magazine features?

Chuanming Lv: Well one of our recent copies had a cover feature entitled “the new blue ocean revolution.” It’s actually talking about LG’s growth strategy under the current competitive environment, which can provide a point of reference for many companies who are looking to develop a strategy that will help them flourish in an intensively competitive environment. We also did a recent feature on Vietnam. Chinese companies are attracted to Vietnam as an investment location due to low labour costs, which as you know, is a key competitive advantage of Chinese enterprise.

TEC: We just talked about that Contemporary Manager’s reader is positioning in "adolescent” CEO or entrepreneurs. We know that interaction in magazine is very important; how does Contemporary Manager’s normally interact with its readers, other than at the forums?

Chuanming Lv: There are various forms of interaction. One is through our web site where readers can pass comments onto us and we also add current business topics the website for our readers to discuss in online forums with our editorial staff. Actually these forums are critical sources of interaction where we can gather our target group and communicate with each other. We use presentations and online seminars to exchange and share experiences. After the online forum, we ascertain which topics have relevance for our readers and we can explore such topics more thoroughly in the magazine. Other interaction involves a more simple approach in that we ask entrepreneurs about what are difficulties or confusion they face, what kind of management skill sets they need or what kind of forward-looking ideas they require and so on. After we got the questions, we choose the topic and through out case study to find the method solve problems. Of course, the case study must very representative for the question, so that our readers will find our magazine very useful and practical. Readers buy a magazine is not only buy its good package, but also useful. Our philosophy is based on practical functionality and ease of operation.

TEC: Finally what is Contemporary Manager’s five-year goal and how do you intend to reach it?

Lv ChuanMing: Simple: We want to be the first and most important brand in the media industry that promotes and supports Chinese enterprises’ growth, we may go to public and we also hope we create an excellent management team as soon as possible.

TEC: And launch Contemporary Manager overseas and in English?

Lv ChuanMing: Ha ha, why not?

TEC: Mr. Lv ChaunMing thank you, it has been a pleasure talking with you.

Mr.Lv: My pleasure.